Father
by killertrees
Summary: What I think Sesshoumaru thinks after episode 162; basically his thoughts on Rin after she asks him to not forget her when she's dead. One-shot. K-plus because my ANs are angsty and I say the h-word. :)


A/N: What the hell is Ah-Un? I said dragon youkai, but honestly, I have no idea. It's the same with Jaken...I called him a toad, but he's probably an imp or something similar. Also, I probably made mistakes with my Japanese terms, such as calling Rin's clothing a kimono. I don't know if that's right, but if someone corrects me on this stuff I'll gladly change it...if I can.

This is my first story. I just thought that I might as well post something as long as I have this account. If it sucks really bad just let me know and I'll take it off and just continue to read all of your wonderful stories instead. I'm sure this isn't an original plot, but I haven't read any stories taken after this episode yet, so I figured it was a safe shot in the dark.

The first part of the story is a recap of the last bit of episode 162. The dialogue might not be exact since I watched the Japanese version with English subtitles. I don't know if the Adult Swim American version does this one. Also, it's not essential to know this episode to figure out the story. It's just a blurb on how Sesshoumaru feels about Rin. Well, hope you enjoy! And let me know if there's another story like this out there!

Oh, one more thing...The disclaimer! I don't own Inuyasha, the episode I'm quoting, any of the characters, etc. And any resemblance this story has to any other story is purely coincidental.

"Rin," Sesshoumaru said once he had blasted away the foolish group of monk's spell and went back to his more human-like form, looking down at his young human child.

"Yes?" Rin asked looking up at him with her innocent large brown eyes.

"Do as you will." Looking up from Rin, Sesshoumaru turned and walked back towards the woods.

"Yes!" Rin said happily as she prepared to follow him. As she turned to leave the head monk, Ungai, grabbed her wrist and turned a gasping Rin back to look at him.

"Wait," He said. "That is a mononoke. A youkai! They have no need for the companionship of a human child."

"Let me go!" Rin exclaimed as she pulled her wrist from the surprised Ungai's grasp running in the direction that Sesshoumaru had gone.

"Stop this! Humans and youkai live in different worlds!" He yelled and reached out a hand towards the retreating child.

Rin stopped in her pursuit of Sesshoumaru at those words, remembering what Jaken had told her earlier.

--------Flashback...kinda--------

"...A human like you would be long dead before that happened." Jaken curtly put in, speaking of a future where Sesshoumaru had realized his empire after the defeat of Naraku; and how Jaken himself would be minister of that empire. Rin had asked what her place would be in such a scenario and that had been his response.

---------end-----------

"That's right. Now, come back." The monk spoke to Rin's back as she stood still contemplating the words the monk had said and Jaken's comments earlier. Rin turned and simply smiled wide, waving goodbye as she continued to run towards Sesshoumaru.

"Why? Why would she?!" The monk mussed to himself as he watched the girl run out of his sight.

The sun shown brightly the next day and splashes of sunlight hit a very lost, very upset Jaken. "Riiiiiiin!?" He cried, knowing Sesshoumaru must be angry with him for letting her be tempted away by Ongokuki and his magic flute. "Sesshomaru-sama?! Se...ssho...maru...sama..." a wearied Jaken continued to yell as he almost collapsed on a grassy hill.

"Jaken," Sesshoumaru said as he appeared before the frazzled looking Jaken.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Oh, and Rin!" a relieved Jaken replied.

"Where's Ah-Un?"

Jaken jumped and started bowing. "I will...I will bring them at once!" With that, Jaken raced off to find the two headed dragon youkai.

Rin giggled at his antics and looked over to a spot where three grave stones lay in the ground. She ran over to them and squatted down in front of them. "Hey, Sesshoumaru-sama!" She said still smiling brightly.

"What is it?"

Rin playfully traced a finger along one of the gravestones.

"If...Rin should ever die, would you please not forget about me?"

Sesshoumaru gasped at the question and looked down at the little girl. Quickly putting back up his look of cold indifference he answered, "Such a foolish thing..."

Jaken appeared then with Ah-Un, yelling "Sesshomaru-sama!!"

Jaken attempted to jump off the dragon and ended up rolling and falling face first into the dirt. "Ah-Un is here." He looks up from the ground to see Sesshoumaru once again walking off into the distance. "Uh, Sesshomaru-sama, where are you..." Jaken starts before he is cut off by the long end of his staff landing promptly on his head.

"Obviously you know. Looking for Naraku." Sesshoumaru throws over his shoulder.

"Yes, that's true," replies Jaken, rubbing his head. "Um, are you sure it's all right that I go with you?" He asks with a worried look on his face.

"Obviously you know!" Rin mimics Sesshoumaru's comment and looks down at the toad. He gives a yelp of surprise and she adds, "Its fine, Jaken-sama! Let's go!"

"Wait for me!" Jaken proclaims as he runs after an already running and laughing Rin.

Sesshoumaru took one curious, almost concerned look back at the laughing human girl before turning his head back ahead.

Later that night, Sesshoumaru left Jaken and Rin to set up their camp, and wandered into the woods. Rin's words had taken him by surprise. Why would she ask such a question? Immediately he blamed Jaken for bringing up such worries in the girl's mind, but he couldn't focus on being angry with the annoying toad. All he could think about was Rin's question.

Would he remember her?

He had lived for thousands of years, and would continue to live for thousands more, long past the passing of the little human girl. He couldn't reason why that should bother him at all. Sesshoumaru had brought Rin back to life with the Tensaiga (sp?) because she had intrigued him, but now he felt as if he would have different reasons to bring her back.

"I feel..." Sesshoumaru grimaced at the thought. A proper youkai did not feel.

At that Sesshoumaru came to another harsh conclusion; was he really a proper youkai any longer? He allowed a human girl to follow him on his journeys and continued to protect her. When there were other humans in his way he did not slaughter them around her, he would probably even spare them if she had asked it of him.

Sesshoumaru suddenly no longer wanted to think along these lines, not caring to find out where they led him.

"I am the Lord of the Western Lands, and a proper youkai. The human girl means nothing to me. She is merely an amusement, and when I tire of her, I shall dispose of her. This Sesshoumaru does not feel." Making this remark, sounding as confident and cold as he possibly could, Sesshoumaru turned and headed back towards his two strange wards.

The fire was slowly dieing out as Sesshoumaru returned to the site he had left Jaken and Rin. They had both curled up closely by the fire, each on one side of it and Rin was beginning to shiver; it was no strange occurrence since she was clad in only a kimono while the other two had thicker layered clothing.

Sesshoumaru took a small piece of wood off a pile of fire wood that had been put off to the side of Jaken, which one of them had gathered, and placed it on the embers. The flames slowly started to lick back up onto the wood and suddenly consumed it. He added another piece and looked back at Rin.

She still shivered a bit as the light of the flames illuminated her slightly dirty face. Sesshoumaru thought that as soon as they found another river, she would have to take a quick bath to rid herself of the grime from traveling. He took a few steps until he was directly behind her and sat down. Before he realized what he was doing, and seeing that she was still shivering, he took her carefully up into his lap wrapping her in the long sleeves of his outfit.

Sesshoumaru looked tenderly down at her as she stopped shivering and stiffened with the sudden realization of what he had done. His face instantly turned cold as he went to put her back down, but she snuggled into him in her sleep and he hesitated. He gave her the same curious concerned look from earlier that day.

Would he remember her?

Would he miss her?

Did he feel for her?

He looked down at the puzzling child in his arms. Never before had any creature, human or youkai alike, been able to rouse such questions and uncertainty in him.

Why should he care?

Did he care?

Struggling with the thoughts in his head he set Rin carefully back down by the fire, stood up, and added a few more pieces of wood to the small blaze.

He was a proper youkai. He was the Lord of the Western Lands.

Before he settled down next to a tree determined to pound those sentences into his head until he was his old carefree, cold hearted, youkai self, he had one final alarming thought.

He was a father.

Ok, that's all. It's rather short, but it is my first story after all...and really it's just a tester story to see if I suck really bad or not.

Flames are welcome!! I know I flame, so I don't see why you shouldn't be able to flame me back. I do ask that if I've flamed you previously, that you don't do it to my story just for revenge...that wouldn't be very helpful at all. Also, no flames about Sesshoumaru being OOC. Someone in one of their stories: (I think it was Iggy Lovechild...and if it wasn't you should go read her stuff anyway sorry if you don't want me to mention you in my story, let me know and I'll take your name out) I refuse to believe that Sesshoumaru is a cold unfeeling rock.

I mean come on people. Go watch that episode and you'll agree. Besides, Rin is too cute not to love.

Well, hope to see more new stories out there!

Killer Trees


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